THE BALLAD OF NARAYAMA

Japan, 1982, 130 minutes, Colour.
Ken Ogata.
Directed by Shohei Imammura.

The Ballad of Narayama won the principal prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Its director, Shohei Imammura has a reputation for strong films and historical perspective.

He and his crew went into the Japanese mountains and lived the primitive life for almost a year. The film captures the atmosphere of a remote peasant way of life and its harmony with nature as well as its struggle against nature. Age-old myths dominate the lives of the peasants and many of them seem strange and cruel for urban audiences. The film focuses on life in all its detail. The screenplay was adapted from two novels by Shichiro Fukazawa.

1. Acclaim for the film? Prizes? Quality?

2. The work of the director, his understanding of people, his portrait of this old way of life? Strong and tough? The conditions under which he worked?

3. 19th century background? The remote Japanese countryside? Isolation, winter, living conditions, the village, homes, work? The colour photography and the use of locations? The striking, vistas and their beauty? The inhabitants as part of these harsh landscapes?

4. The villagers and their traditions, Close to the land and nature, the importance of female children, the deaths of frail children (because youngsters could be hired when work was needed)? Marriage, death? Age and old people going to die?

5. Village law and its cruelty (from a western perspective)? The villagers accepting this law? Governing their lives and behaviour?

6. Narayama as a symbol, a place, a goal? Orin and her preparations to go to Narayama? Arranging everything before she went? The symbolism of a journey, the supernatural atmosphere of the place, the height of the mountain, its rugged terrain, its bones and skulls? The primitive atmosphere, the background of folklore and myths? This kind of film challenging the assumptions of its audience?

7. The focus on Tatsuhei as hero, his work, sons, widower, the coming of Tama and his marrying her? His fidelity to his mother? His journey and his spiritual experience of his father's presence in the tree, the truth about his father's death, the motives? His shooting the tree? Taking his mother to Narayama?

9. The contrast with Risuke? His being on the outer in the village, his smell? His being rejected, his sexual needs, earthy manner, the animals? His being with the animals? His wanting a sexual liaison with Orin? her rejecting him? His mother persuading Okane to be with him? The fact that he sang The Ballad of Narayama at the end?

10. Tatsuhei's son, his relationship with Matsu, her pregnancy? Her place in her family? Her disfigurement? The discovery of the food stored in the house? The law of the village requiring the mass execution - the file's focusing on the plight of the family, their emotions, the law, the digging of the graves, Matsu's death? With her family? The son taking the new bride?

11. Oei and her dying husband, the promise, her sexual relationship with the men of the village?

10. The impact of the film for a Japanese audience? An Asian audience? Western audience? The challenge to stances and values?